I admit it. For a while I was seduced by the slippery attraction of non-stick cookware. But what I noticed was that supermarket-cheap or fancy cookware-expensive, they all betrayed me in the end. I also noticed that while cast iron just keeps getting better and better, my non-stick just got worse.

And it wasn't my fault — it wasn't, it wasn't! I never used anything but wooden or plastic utensils with them. I always washed them with nothing more abrasive than the special faux-mink mitten I special-ordered from PeopleWithTooMuchMoney.com.*

It didn't matter. Sooner or later they all let me down. But my cast iron? I can treat those like a rented mule and all they have to say is "More!"

OK, I'm exaggerating a little. I do treat my cast iron stuff carefully — no abrasives and nothing but water and sometimes a little dish soap. And when I've washed them I reheat and rub with cooking oil or sometimes just some non-stick spray. But the thing is, hardly anything sticks hard to them, anyway.

Nancy loves cast iron, too, but she thinks there's still a place for non-stick in her kitchen.

"What do you do for eggs?" she gotcha'd. Not a problem. My black-mirror finished cast iron skillet — with a little squirt of cooking spray for extra slickness — works fine for me.

And that's all I have to say about that.

"What a man needs in gardening is a cast iron back with a hinge in it."